“I don’t care who it is, you have to follow the rules” Boris Becker backs Denis Shapovalov over Rafael Nadal in “Time-Wasting” row
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Denis Shapovalov and Boris Becker
Denis Shapovalov’s campaign at the Australian Open 2022 came to an end with a quarter-finals loss to 6th seed Rafael Nadal in five sets. The Spaniard won the first two sets comfortably and was looking on course to a straight-sets win, but Shapovalov bounced back to win the next two sets and force a decider. Nadal broke the Canadian’s serve at the start of the set, which was enough for him to win the set and progress to the semi-finals and inch closer to his 21st Grand Slam title.
Shapovalov had a heated exchange with the umpire in the middle of the match. He complained that Nadal was taking too long to get settled between serves, and deserved a time violation. But the umpire didn’t respond positively to the Canadian, and Shapovalov accused the officials of being corrupt for not penalizing Nadal.
“If the umpire strictly follows the rules, Shapovalov is right,” Boris Becker speaks on the incident
German tennis legend Boris Becker reckons that Shapovalov wasn’t at fault, because according to the rules, the server is the one dictating the pace of the game. And in this case, it was Shapovalov who was the server, and Nadal wasn’t ready to return and he wasn’t given any code violation for it.
“If the umpire strictly follows the rules, Shapovalov is right. The server decides how fast you play. Nadal was not ready to return within 45 seconds. But players like Nadal and also Djokovic or Federer have earned a certain status – nevertheless, you have to follow up on that,” Becker said.
Former World No.1 Mats Wilander also shared his opinion saying, rules are meant to be followed, irrespective of the stature of the person.
“Shapovalov was obviously very emotional, most probably too emotional in my book. At the same time, maybe he needed to get fired up. The way he talked to Rafa was respectful and then he got fired up about the chair umpires. He came up against a mental giant. I don’t mind this if it is done in the proper way. I think you have to read between the lines, it’s just ‘this guy is taking too long , I don’t care who it is, you guys have to follow the rules’,” he added.
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